The Hindu : Sport Digest

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 30, 2002

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Sport - Sports : General

Sport Digest

CRICKET: WELLINGTON: New Zealand will play two Test matches and five one-day Internationals on its tour of the West Indies starting in June, New Zealand Cricket announced. The itinerary: June 3: vs. Vice-Chancellors XI, Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica; June 5: First one-dayer, Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica; June 8: Second one-dayer, Boursejour Stadium, Gros Inlet, St. Lucia; June 9: Third one-dayer, Boursejour Stadium, Gros Inlet, St. Lucia; June 12: Fourth one-dayer, Queens Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad; June 15: Fifth one-dayer, Amos Vale Complex, Kingstown, St. Vincent; June 17-19: to be confirmed, vs. West Indies Academy XI, St. Vincent; June 21-25: First Test, Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados; June 28-July 2: Second Test, Queen's Park, St. Georges, Grenada.

TENNIS: SYDNEY: Belgian tennis player Kim Clijsters, who has had a two-year relationship with Australian Lleyton Hewitt, is considering a move to Australia, published reports said on Monday. ``It's hard, I love both countries and it's a bit of a dilemma for me,'' Clijsters was reported as saying in The Australian newspaper. ``I love playing for Belgium and my family is Belgian and everything, but I love Australia and I love to go to Australia, and I'd love to live in Australia because the weather is so much better. ``I don't know. It's something I have to think about.'' On Sunday, Clijsters, ranked No. 3 in the world, pulled out of her country's Fed Cup matches against Australia due to a shoulder injury. Clijsters said she was suffering from recurring muscle pain in her right shoulder that has troubled her for several weeks. ``I had a bad pain in my arm this morning,'' Clijsters said. ``A pain I know well, it's better that I take a rest day.''

Clijsters watched from the stands with Hewitt, the top-ranked men's player in the world, as the defending champion beat Australia 3-1.

GOLF: GREENSBORO: Rocco Mediate, holding his nerves together while battling 50 kph (30 mph) wind gusts, shot a 1-under 71 on Sunday for a three-stroke victory over Mark Calcavecchia in the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic. Mediate finished with a 16-under 272 total for his fifth victory on the PGA Tour and first since the 2000 Buick Open. He also won at Forest Oaks Country Club in 1993, beating Steve Elkington in a playoff. The $ 684,000 top prize jumps Mediate's 2002 earnings to dlrs 1.487 million and from 21st to sixth on the money list. His total is a career high, topping last year's $ 1.474 million. Calcavecchia, who shot a 72, finished second despite matching the tour record for fewest putts in a 72-hole event.

WEIGHTLIFTING: ANTALYA: Bulgarians don't like settling for second place in weightlifting. And at this year's European Weightlifting Championships, which wrapped up on Sunday, Bulgarian men didn't have to. The team's eight men took first place, wracking up a total of 16 medals — nine of them gold. Russia, which has almost 20 times the population, placed second, taking home only six. That's not so bad for a struggling country of 8 million people. Although Bulgarian women placed fourth — behind Turkey, Russia, and Poland — they came ahead of every country in western Europe with greater financial and technological means at their disposal. And on Sunday, Olympic silver medalist Alan Tsagaev of Bulgaria heaved 235.0 kilograms (517 pounds) in the clean-and-jerk to match a European record and take two golds. The Bulgarians weren't the only ones competing at the championships. Ukrainian Nataliya Skakun hoisted the only world record of the week when she snatched 135 kilograms (297 pounds) in the women's 63-kilogram (138.6-pound) weight class.

FOOTBALL: PARIS: Portugal international striker Pedro Pauleta was voted the best player in the French first division in the 2001-2002 season by fellow players and coaches. The 29-year-old enjoyed an impressive run with Girondins Bordeaux this season and is the first division's leading scorer with 21 goals. He is expected to make an impact at the World Cup starting next month in which Portugal play in first-round Group D with co-hosts South Korea, Poland and the U.S. Pauleta joined Bordeaux in September 2000 from Deportivo Coruna. AJ Auxerre striker Djibril Cisse, who has scored 20 goals for his club and could still make it into France's squad of 23 for the World Cup, was voted most promising player of the season.

LONDON: Striker Andy Cole's bid to win back his place in the England squad for the World Cup starting next month has been undermined by a whispering campaign, his Blackburn Rovers manager Graeme Souness claimed. ``I have said it before and I will say it again: Andy Cole should be going to the World Cup,'' Souness told Sky Sports television after Blackburn's 2-1 English premier league win at Everton. ``But I think he will not be going for non-footballing reasons. Someone has said something that has stopped him getting on that plane to the World Cup.'' Cole reminded England manager Sven Goran Eriksson of his predatory qualities with an opportunistic winner in the Goodison Park clash.

LONDON: Manchester United has denied reports that England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson was ready to resign after the World Cup and replace Alex Ferguson as manager of the English champions. Saturday's Daily Mail newspaper, quoting extracts from a new biography on Ferguson, said Eriksson was set to agree to become United boss before Ferguson changed his plans in February to retire at the end of the season. But United chief executive Peter Kenyon, asked if he could state categorically that United had never offered Eriksson the job, told BBC Radio. ``Absolutely...let's get rid of this speculation. Sven has done a tremendous job and got England to the World Cup finals, and I know he is committed to moving them on into the Europeans (Championship in 2004). There was huge speculation as you would expect once Alex said he was going to retire. But we want to get all this speculation behind us. What we are delighted about is that Alex is with us for another three years, and that is by far the best solution for United.''

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